In the prior U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,253 issued Nov. 29, 1960 to Junius T. Moore, Jr. and having a common assignee to this application, namely, The Moore Company of Charleston, West Virginia, there is disclosed a system or apparatus for storing clothing and/or other articles by utilizing a receptacle such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,620,074, issued Dec. 2, 1952 to Junius T. Moore, Jr. and also assigned to the common assignee. The receptacle is supported on the end of a link chain which passes over a pulley arrangement fixed to an overhead support member and then passes downwardly, the link chain, having its other end attached to a fixed attachment means within reach of a person. In this system when the link chain is fully extended it has a length sufficient to support the receptacle within reach of a person, but the link chain can be grasped above the attachment means and pulled downwardly to elevate the receptacle, the chain having means thereon for detachably locking the same to the attachment means so as to support the receptacle in an elevated position out of reach of the person. This type of system or apparatus has found widespread use in locker rooms of industrial and manufacturing plants for hanging clothes and storing articles such as shoes, helmets or the like where it is desirable to provide a clean and airy locker room with a maximum floor space. While the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,253 has found widespread use throughout industrial and manufacturing plants, it is not entirely satisfactory at this time because of the increasing demands for safety in all phases of operation.
Municipal, state and federal governments have in recent years been investigating safety standards in all phases of operation in equipment of manufacturing plants, industrial plants, mines and the like and they have been enacting laws to upgrade the working standards so as to protect the individual. A system or apparatus such as described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,253 would not be substantially foolproof in its operation to meet rigid safety standards if such are applied by government agencies or the plants themselves. If a person, when operating the system or apparatus of the aforementioned patent to raise or lower the weighted article, was to accidentally lose grasp of the link chain, the sudden relaxing of tension in the link chain would cause the article to fall rapidly by gravity and since the weighted article would fall to a lowered position in reach of a person, it could cause injury to a person who happened to be beneath the article. Also, the abrupt stopping of the article could cause damage to elements of the system. If the link chain was to fail between the pulley means and the fixed attachment means so that tension was released fully and abruptly in the chain, the article or receptacle would fall rapidly by gravity to the floor and would present a hazardous condition of possible injury to a person standing beneath the suspended article.